


Day 311

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [311]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27444205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [311]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 2





	Day 311

Evelina took a moment to enjoy the outdoors. It had been so long since he had walked outside the Gallows, and despite the fact that there were four templars per mage, it somehow felt more free. The templars were desperately trying to sway public opinion in their favor. Their inability to protect their people from the real threats and their overzealousness in ‘protecting’ people from non-threats, had, for the first time, made people seriously question the necessity of the order.

Today, they were going to the people to provide magical services to the common folk. Evelina had done everything she could to be the model mage and was one of the few chosen to be allowed out for the day. Her healing ability was a bonus as well as her affinity for kinetic spells; there was a lot of rubble still to be moved.

Towards the end of the day, the group moved down from Lowtown to the tunnels under the city. Anders the apostate ran a clinic somewhere here but he couldn’t help everyone. Evelina knew the templars would never have let them come down here unless they stood to gain something from it (the Chantry may claim to love charity but they rarely lived up to their ideals in practice,) but she was determined to make the most of it.

Evelina was hoping to catch a glimpse of Walter or Cricket while she was down here and had almost given up hope when Walter showed up with a sickly looking cricket. 

“Evelina,” he said with a smile. “I didn’t think I would see you again.”

She wanted to reassure him. She wanted to tell him that she was working on a plan to escape the Circle and that everything would be alright soon. They could flee together to the countryside and make a life for themselves.

Instead she took a look at Cricket. She reached out with her magic and found a hostile presence in the boy. Not a demon, just a mundane parasite, probably from drinking bad water. Unfortunately she could not kill it without harming Cricket, not without blood magic anyway. For anyone else she would not have risked it, but for Cricket and Walter, she would risk anything. 

She called Walter over and pricked his finger with a suturing needle. She hushed him when he started to cry out and set to work. It was a simple matter with the power of the blood to find the parasites and kill them. The phrase ‘the healer has the bloodiest hands’ had more meanings then most people realized. Cricket’s body would flush out the dead parasites in a few days.

“Careful only to drink water you’ve boiled from now on,” she said. Both boys nodded.

“We should be alright soon,” Walter said. “The Champion is opening up a home for us orphaned children in an old pottery foundry. I’m going to take cricket there when it opens.”

“Absolutely not,” Evelina hissed. “He’s probably just looking for slave labor to run the foundry. He’ll work you both to death while he gets even richer.” She wanted to tell them her plan, but she dared not with the templars so close. These were not soft templars like Thrask or Keran, Meredith was building a core team of templars of unquestionable loyalty for excursions like this.

“You have managed to survive this long,” she said. “You’re smart and clever. You don’t need to put yourselves at the mercy of someone else.”

“I… of course Evelina,” Walter said. “Thank you for warning us.”

She gave them both a hug, under the disapproving eyes of the templars, and watched them return to the streets. The streets where she had left them to fend for themselves despite having promised to take care of them. When she returned to the Gallows that night she went to sleep feeling more determined than ever to escape this wretched place. She would keep her promise to Walter and Cricket, even if she had to tear the entire city apart.


End file.
